This is an excerpt from a report made to the Aviation Safety Reporting System. The narrative is written by the pilot, rather than FAA or NTSB officials. To maintain anonymity, many details, such as aircraft model or airport, are often scrubbed from the reports.
I was flying a Cessna T210L that I just purchased.
The pre-purchase inspection revealed oil leaks and compression leaking past the rings, however when speaking to one of the previous owners immediately prior to departure “oil consumption was negligible” and “it blows the top quarts off if it’s full.”
No advice was provided about avoiding long distance or high altitude flight.
The dipstick indicated 8.25 quarts cold, and the owner provided me a quart for the trip home in case I needed it.
After an uneventful 3.5 hour flight I landed at ZZZ, topped off fuel, added the quart of oil, and the engine indicated 7.25 quarts (hot), and I figured this was approximately a quart lower than true due to oil being spread throughout the engine instead of dropped down in the oil pan.
Therefore, the oil consumption was between 1 and 2 quarts for the first flight.
I took off and noticed a loss of “normal” ~50 PSI oil pressure after about two hours into the flight while cruising IFR at FL250. The oil pressure was about 30 PSI at the bottom of the “normal” operating range.
About 15 minutes later, I begin to notice a 1- to 2-inch manifold pressure fluctuation and 5-10 pph fuel flow fluctuation coinciding with the manifold pressure fluctuation.
Turning on the fuel pumps, switching tanks, and adjusting mixture or throttle did not solve the problem.
Quite quickly — about five minutes after the first noticed fluctuation — nearly total engine power was lost as manifold pressure and fuel flow plummeted.
A distress call was made to ATC and I tried a variety of mixture/fuel/throttle settings, but none provided much power at that altitude.
Without recovering significant engine power, I requested ATC assistance, began a rapid descent and ATC provided excellent services.
I turned the prop to low RPM to provide less drag and chose a landing site.
While in the descent to ZZZ1, oil pressure was above redline but very low, and engine temperatures plummeted.
At lower altitudes, the engine responded with adequate power, but a gliding precautionary normal landing was conducted.
During rollout and taxi, the oil pressure was back to the middle of green (~50 PSI), so I elected to continue to taxi and shut down thinking that there was no permanent engine damage.
After shutdown, I provided reports to airport personnel regarding the incident.
After filling the engine with nine quarts of oil, maintenance cleaned the engine compartment and identified an oil leak around an STC’d Stratus C6LC-L oil filter adapter retaining through-bolt.
The oil in the engine compartment and on the bottom of the aircraft was significantly worse than it was at the first airport, and indicated a significant increase in the oil leak rate on the second flight.
The oil adapter bolt was re-tightened and no other significant oil leaks were found.
Ground checks were normal, as well as the ability to make full power at field elevation.
Upon the flight to ZZZ2, the engine became bootstrapped at 75% power at 13,500 feet, possibly indicating turbocharger, wastegate, or turbo controller damage.
I will continue to investigate as the aircraft maintenance schedule allows.
I could’ve added more oil in ZZZ, and I could’ve grounded the aircraft in ZZZ for maintenance, however the data at that point didn’t indicate such a high oil consumption rate.
It’s also possible that the cold temperatures at FL250 around the housing (-30F) were enough to shrink it while the through bolt was expanded from ~160F hot oil, thus resulting in an increase in oil leakage at that altitude and temperature.
I could have cruised lower, however this would have resulted in a longer trip and more operation time.
Primary Problem: Aircraft
ACN: 2049309
What kind of eed-jut in maintenance would allow flight after adding 9 quarts of oil !
That must have been near dry. No wonder the turbocharger siezed in it’s oil supported bushings.
I had a garden variety 1960 210 with which I had a love hate relationship. I purchased it used of course. It had been flown in the south and nobody told me that in cold winters the oil air cooler intake needed to be covered. I discovered that when the oil pressure suddenly dropped shortly after I took off. Of course I landed immediately and an A&P figured it out.
We eventually did an engine rebuild. Not long after, on a hot summer day, I was on the hold short line waiting for IFR release from HEF for a flight to FXE. I was probably being held up for IAD departures. I’m getting nervous looking at the engine temperature… Just the old gauge. I didn’t want to have to shut down. The gauge never went in the red.
I got my release and made an uneventful flight. The next day I picked up a friend and I noticed the aircraft performance, the way it felt was a bit off.
Subsequent inspection of the engine revealed a couple of burned cylinder linings.
Between that and the need for 20K in hoses… Sold it. I recently learned the aircraft had an engine failure and was a total loss.
Old aircraft are just that. Old!
Many lessons learned the hard way.
His aircraft should not have been flown until the leak had been investigated and fixed!
Not a good idea to keep flying this aircraft! You don’t know what damage occured. Get the engine checked out.
Some mechanic signed off on this. Maybe he/she should be contacted.
Guess it’s better to be stupid and lucky than stupid and unlucky?
T-210L’s are way more reliable than the T-210M’s
Bottom line buying a used complex aircraft one needs an expert mechanical inspection of the aircraft before whizzing off into ozone!
C-210’s have critical aileron and rudder cable tensions requirements that must be maintained!
Great high performance aircraft all require constant attention to details resulting from their utilization!
Individual owners are often remiss in properly keeping their aircraft in airworthy condition!
You were lucky!
If you noticed oil leaks, why would you fly it? My experience tells me that if it were overfilled, it would of been visible in the air filter
For some reason, installation errors on STC oil filter adapters seem to be near epidemic levels. It seems that adapters need to be thoroughly inspected on any unfamiliar airplane. If I was buying a new plane, I think I might remove it and reinstall before doing a short test flight. Many of them are subject to ADs.
I’m sure that there was something special that attracted him to that aircraft, and that blinded him to the inspection findings.
The trip ended well , good luck with that special aircraft it will serve you well .
Good luck and be safe.
Primary problem new owner being suckered.
I seem to remember one of your Presidents (Ronnie) saying “Trust but verify”. He got one half of it right, but not the important part concerning his life.
I wonder if I can be in his Will. Don’t yell at me, I am old and fragile.
Caveat Emptor.
/J
The sellers must be laughing.